Monday, September 17, 2012
Unidentified gunmen have killed a local Somali radio journalist in the capital Mogadishu, making him the ninth journalist to be killed within this year in the war-torn country, Press TV reports.
On Sunday evening, Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud, a cameraman working as freelance journalist, was shot several times by four armed men with pistols in Nasib Bundo neighborhood of Shibis district in Mogadishu.
According to his family members, the gunmen shot the journalist in the head and chest. He died on the spot and the killers escaped the scene.
Hours after the attack, the National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ) condemned the killing of Zakariye, who is son of veteran journalist Mohamed Mohamud Moallim (aka MM Moallim).
“We mourn yet another colleague who is a victim of bloody violence in line of duty,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.
“Zakariye’s death is a tragedy for his family and colleague who over years confronted danger in covering the news of their communities and country,” he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Earlier in August, gunmen killed well-known journalist Yusuf Ali Osman, known as Farey who worked with the country’s information ministry in southern Somalia.
A popular Somali media worker known as Marshale was also killed late July after making fun of the al-Shabab militant group on the air.
Reports indicate that about 30 Somali journalists have been killed in the country since 2007.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by a 12,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.